Trump makes good on threat to sanction Turkey
The US president is sanctioning two top officials in hopes of pressuring Ankara to release a US pastor, with uncertain results.
In an unprecedented move, President Donald Trump today sanctioned Turkey, marking the first time the United States has sanctioned a NATO ally.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders announced this afternoon that the Treasury Department was adding Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu to its sanctions list, saying they had played “leading roles” in the arrest and detention of US pastor Andrew Brunson. The order blocks any property or interest in property of both ministers within US jurisdiction while prohibiting US persons from engaging in transactions with them.
The measures come less than a week after Trump first threatened sanctions unless Ankara released Brunson, who has been detained for nearly two years. Turkey accuses the evangelical pastor of having ties to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party and to exiled Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of masterminding the failed 2016 military coup.
“Pastor Brunson’s unjust detention and continued prosecution by Turkish officials is simply unacceptable,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “President Trump has made it abundantly clear that the United States expects Turkey to release him immediately.”
